Social security: RSSB contributions: registration within seven working days, the pension rate of 12% rising to 20% by 2030, the pension base after the 2024 Order, maternity and occupational hazards contributions, the 0.5% CBHI levy, RAMA, Ejo Heza, deadlines and penalties

RSSB and the schemes an employer must join

The Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) administers the mandatory social security schemes: the pension scheme, the occupational hazards scheme, the maternity leave benefits scheme and the RAMA medical scheme. It also collects contributions to the community-based health insurance scheme and runs Ejo Heza, the voluntary long-term savings scheme. Article 39 of Law N° 66/2018 of 30/08/2018 regulating labour in Rwanda lists among the employer's main duties affiliating each employee to the social security body and paying contributions for them, and Article 19 makes an employer that has not contributed for an employee liable to pay that employee, on an occupational accident or disease, the equivalent of the benefits RSSB would have paid, including medical expenses.

The governing texts are Law N° 05/2015 of 30/03/2015 governing the organisation of pension schemes, published in Official Gazette n° 20 of 18 May 2015; Presidential Order N° 086/01 of 12/12/2024 determining the contribution rate to mandatory pension scheme; Ministerial Order N° 008/24/10/TC of 03/12/2024 determining compensatory benefits and cash value of benefits in kind under mandatory pension scheme; Law N° 003/2016 of 30/03/2016 establishing and governing maternity leave benefits scheme, as amended by Law N° 049/2024 of 04/06/2024; and Prime Minister's Order N° 001/03 of 16/02/2026 related to the community-based health insurance scheme contributions. Presidential Order N° 002/01 of 05/02/2025 increased the pension and occupational hazards benefits RSSB pays. The overall cost of a payroll, combining these contributions with Pay As You Earn (PAYE), is worked through in Wages, minimum wage and payroll.

Who must be covered

Article 4 of Law N° 05/2015 makes the mandatory pension scheme apply to all employees governed by the Labour Law, regardless of nationality, type of contract, duration of the contract or amount of wages; to public servants and political appointees; and to employees of international organisations, national and international non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations and embassies accredited to Rwanda. There is no exemption for expatriates, for part-time staff, for fixed-term staff or for highly paid staff.

Article 4 deals with secondments in both directions. Employees of an enterprise operating in Rwanda who are seconded to work for the same enterprise in another country remain in the Rwandan scheme if the secondment does not exceed twelve months. Employees of an enterprise operating abroad who are seconded to the same enterprise in Rwanda remain in their home scheme if the secondment does not exceed twelve months. Both rules apply subject to international conventions ratified by Rwanda. A secondee to Rwanda for longer than twelve months, or one employed by a different group entity in Rwanda, should be enrolled with RSSB. Under Article 5, a former member may continue contributing voluntarily, and self-employed persons not over 50 may join the mandatory scheme on request.

Registration and the monthly cycle

Under Article 6 of Law N° 05/2015 the employer must register with RSSB within seven working days of employing its first employee, and must register each newly hired employee within seven working days of the date of employment. Law N° 049/2024 restated the same duty for the maternity scheme: the employer registers within seven days of hiring the first employee, and registers a new employee who has no registration number within seven working days. In practice a new company registers once with RSSB as an employer, receives an employer number, and adds each employee as hired.

The employer collects both its own and the employee's share, deducting the employee's share from salary at the time of payment; the employee cannot object to the deduction, and any contract that contradicts these rules is void (Article 9). An employer that fails to deduct at the time of the last payment cannot deduct the arrears from later salary. Where an employee works for two or more employers, each deducts in proportion to the salary it pays. Contributions are declared monthly, with a list of employees and their pay, and remitted monthly, in each case no later than the 15th day of the month following the month to which they relate (Articles 10 and 11).

The pension rate: 12% now, rising every January from 2027 to 20% in 2030

Article 8 of Law N° 05/2015 provides that the employer and the employee contribute equally to the pension scheme and that the rate is set by Presidential Order. Until the end of 2024 the rate was 6%, or 3% each, under Presidential Order N° 009/01 of 10/05/2016, which the 2024 Order repealed. Presidential Order N° 086/01 of 12/12/2024, published on 13 December 2024, doubled it to 12% from 1 January 2025 and left 2026 at 12%, and set a two-point rise on each 1 January from 2027 until it reaches 20% in 2030. Article 2 of the Order allows the rate to be reviewed on the basis of an actuarial study, so the later steps are not guaranteed to remain unchanged. Article 8 of the Law also allows a differential rate for categories of employees with particularly harsh or strenuous working conditions.

Each step adds one percentage point to both the employer's and the employee's share. An employer's budget for 2027 should allow for 7% of the pension base as its own cost, and for the employee's net pay to fall by one point of the base unless gross pay is increased. Contracts that promise a fixed net salary leave the employer to absorb the whole rise.

The contribution base after the 2024 Order

Article 7 of Law N° 05/2015 bases the pension contribution on gross salary, made up of base salary, allowances, bonuses and other fringe benefits, together with the value of benefits in kind. Allowances of a refund character and retirement benefits are excluded. Ministerial Order N° 008/24/10/TC of 03/12/2024, which replaced Ministerial Order N° 002/16/10/TC of 19/04/2016, lists the excluded compensatory allowances: mission fees, communication fees, family allowances, medical expenses incurred, cost-of-living allowances, entertainment allowances, occupational health and safety allowances, tools allowances, meal expenses and any other allowance that may be considered as such. Transport allowance, which employers had often treated as excluded, is not on the list, and RSSB has confirmed that it now forms part of the base, aligning it with the base RRA uses for PAYE.

Article 2 of the 2024 Order defines benefits in kind subject to contribution as goods or services provided free or on favourable terms for the employee's personal use, names accommodation as the principal example, and values them at their acquisition value; contributions on a benefit in kind are deducted in the month in which the good is provided or the service acquired. This differs from PAYE, which values housing at 20% of cash employment income: a company-leased house may therefore enter the pension base at its full rent while being taxed at the 20% value, or as cash if the employer pays the rent directly. Payroll systems should map each pay element separately to the PAYE base and to the pension base.

Penalties, recovery and why arrears never expire

An employer that fails to declare or pay pension contributions when due faces an administrative penalty of 1.5% for each month of delay on the contributions undeclared or unpaid, non-cumulative, calculated from the day after the due date to the date of declaration or payment, with any part of a month counted as a full month (Article 12). The penalty is paid together with the contribution. An employer that does not pay remains responsible for the contributions and penalties without deducting anything from the employee's salary, and the obligation to pay contributions is not subject to any statutory limitation (Article 11). Law N° 05/2015 also provides for reduction or waiver of penalties and for forced recovery (Articles 13 and 14).

Because pension arrears never become time-barred, unpaid contributions, including those on allowances wrongly treated as excluded, are a standard item in the due diligence on a Rwandan target (Due diligence in Rwanda). For the community-based health insurance contribution, Article 13 of Prime Minister's Order N° 001/03 imposes interest of 2% a month, simple, on late payments, again with part-months counted as whole months, Article 14 adds an administrative fine of 200% of any contributions an audit shows were underpaid, on top of the unpaid amount, and Article 15 allows an appeal in writing to RSSB's Board of Directors within 30 days of notification of a decision, with the appeal deemed accepted if the Board does not respond within 30 days.

Maternity leave benefits and occupational hazards

Law N° 003/2016 establishing and governing maternity leave benefits scheme fixes a contribution of 0.6% of salary, 0.3% from the employer and 0.3% from the employee, remitted by the 15th of the following month. An employer in default pays the contributions without deducting them from the employee. In return RSSB reimburses eight of the fourteen weeks of maternity leave and funds any extra month for certified complications, as explained in Working hours, leave and public holidays; reimbursement is calculated on the declared salary, so under-declaration costs the employer at the point of claim.

The occupational hazards scheme is funded by a contribution of 2% of salary paid by the employer alone, with no employee share, according to RSSB's published scheme rules; the legal instrument fixing the rate was not identified in the official texts reviewed for this guide. RSSB states that it pays a daily allowance of 75% of average daily earnings in the previous three months during temporary incapacity, for up to 180 days, and a permanent incapacity pension of 85% of average monthly earnings; Presidential Order N° 002/01 of 05/02/2025 increased these benefits. Article 82 of the Labour Law requires the employer to declare an occupational accident, disease or death to RSSB and to the labour inspectorate of the area, and RSSB's procedure uses an accident declaration form completed by the employer. An employee cannot be dismissed because of an occupational accident unless a recognised doctor certifies the employee unfit to resume the job (Article 19).

Health cover: the CBHI levy, RAMA and private insurance

Every employee in a State organ or the private sector contributes 0.5% of net salary to the community-based health insurance (CBHI) scheme. The employer withholds it, declares it monthly with a list of employees and their pay, and pays it no later than the 15th of the following month (Article 5 of Prime Minister's Order N° 001/03 of 16/02/2026, published on 23 February 2026, which repealed Prime Minister's Order N° 105/03 of 30/09/2020). The Order does not define net salary, so employers should follow RSSB's computation. The same Order imposes separate contributions on health insurers, automobile insurers, banks, telecommunications companies and petroleum traders, calculated on their premiums, profits or sales.

The RAMA medical scheme is compulsory for public servants. According to RSSB's 2018 scheme booklet, contributions are 7.5% from the employer and 7.5% from the employee on basic salary, and a private employer with at least seven employees may join if RSSB approves; RSSB's medical rules have been under review since 2025. There is no general duty on a private employer to provide medical insurance for its staff, contrary to the impression the Be Rwanda Wise FAQ on contributions gives; private medical cover, where offered, is a contractual benefit whose cost may be a taxable benefit and part of the pension base. Ejo Heza, RSSB's voluntary long-term savings scheme, is open to resident foreigners as well as Rwandans, and Law N° 05/2015 also allows complementary occupational and personal pension schemes on a voluntary basis.

Registering a new employer and running the first RSSB month

1. Register as an employerRegister with RSSB within seven working days of hiring the first employee, using RSSB's prescribed form or online service, and obtain the employer number.
2. Register each employeeRegister each new employee who has no RSSB number within seven working days of the start date; record existing numbers for employees who already have one.
3. Map the pay elementsClassify each allowance against the excluded list in Ministerial Order N° 008/24/10/TC; include transport allowance and accommodation in kind at acquisition value.
4. Deduct at the time of paymentDeduct the employee's 6% pension, 0.3% maternity and 0.5% health contributions from each salary payment; arrears cannot be deducted later.
5. Declare and pay by the 15thSubmit the monthly declaration with the list of employees and their pay, and pay all contributions by the 15th of the following month.
6. Update for 1 January 2027Change the pension rate to 7% + 7% for pay relating to January 2027 onwards.